


The Waiting Game

by epsilonAbsol



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Brotherly Love, Not Twincest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 16:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2857916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsilonAbsol/pseuds/epsilonAbsol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elysium is supposedly the ideal place to go after you died, but there are circumstances where one cannot fully enjoy everything that the afterlife has to offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Waiting Game

Shockingly, death was a lot easier than most people would think. Though, Castor had to admit that he was actually pretty lucky with his own. There were worse ways to go than being killed while protecting your home, and it only really hurt for a second before he was gone. One sharp blow to the head and that was it, all of his exhaustion and pain was gone.

  


For a while, nothing felt completely real, almost like he was only half existing, but then he was on the wrong shore of an unfriendly looking black river. Castor had a feeling that had to be the Styx, so the man on a nearby boat had to be Charon. The ferryman was watching him, and when he was apparently taking too long for his liking, he snapped, “Well, do you have your fare or not? This is your only way across the river, so get on or get moving, I’ve got other souls to pick up.”

  


Castor took half a step back at that, suddenly wishing that he wasn’t alone here, wishing that his brother could be next to him. He was never great at talking to people, and he was never inclined to. Imagine that, a son of Dionysus, the god of parties, not liking to socialize. But this wasn’t exactly a time where he could ask somebody else to do the talking for him, all he had to do was walk up and pay the fare to get across.

  


Wait, did he even have that? He didn’t remember having anything in his pockets when he’d gone out to fight, though he wasn’t still wearing all of his gear. Maybe that was because of Pollux. Maybe he knew that it’d be a pain to walk around in all that, even in the afterlife. Hopefully he’d have left a coin in his pocket to get across too.

  


Sure enough, Castor found just enough to pay Charon to take him across. It wasn’t the fastest ride ever, but at least the ferryman didn’t feel like making conversation. That would have been more awkward than the first week after he and Pollux had been claimed. Dionysus apparently wasn’t the most well-liked by the campers, not that they’d actually say that. But if he had to choose between stares from literally all of Camp Half-Blood and making small talk with the ferryman of the underworld, he’d choose those stares any day.

  


When he finally got to the other side, he had a choice. He could either go to judgement or he could just stand in a field for the rest of eternity. He’d heard stories about the Fields of Asphodel, and he was mostly sure that he didn’t want to go there if he had a chance of something better than that. He’d died in the fight to protect camp, that counted as heroic, didn’t it? He never had many chances to do anything heroic before that, unless keeping Chiron’s replacement activities director out of the strawberry fields that one year counted. It probably didn’t, but Castor was half convinced that the guy was going to murder him if he didn’t move. Heroic or not, that had been hazardous to his health, and he really hoped that he hadn’t done anything bad enough to warrant the Fields of Punishment. He really didn’t want to see Tantalus again.

  


The line for judgement was a lot shorter than the one for going straight into the Fields of Asphodel, but it still took a long time. When it was finally his turn, he figured out why it took so long really quickly. The judges went over every part of his life, debating where he should go. They brought up events that Castor had completely forgotten about, and those could be enough to keep him from going to Elysium. The more they debated, the more petrified he was that they’d send him to either of the fields.

  


It felt like the weight of the world was lifted when they told him that he was going to Elysium. He almost turned around to tell Pollux, but he was quickly reminded that he wasn’t there. Pollux was still alive, and hopefully he’d stay that way for a long time. But that didn’t mean that Castor wouldn’t miss him, and he was positive that Pollux was probably missing him too. Elysium might be the perfect place to spend your afterlife, but Castor really wasn’t sure how much he could enjoy it without his brother.

  


A short time after he got there -- he wasn’t really sure how long it had really been -- Castor began seeing and recognizing faces. There were some other kids from Camp Half-Blood, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and a lot of others. They told him that Pollux was still alive, and eventually someone brought news that the war against the Titans was over. And really, that was great! Castor just really missed his brother, and the war being over almost felt like it was taking the chance to see him again away. It was terrible for him to think, but he couldn’t help it. He knew that his brother could be a hero, he just didn’t know how many chances he’d get if he was stuck at camp growing strawberries.

  


Once, Castor saw two adults walking and talking together through the streets. Castor was pretty sure he could safely assume that they were twins, given the fact that they looked really alike. He would have easily gone back to being bitter about his lack of contact with his own twin, but he was positive that he heard his name when they walked past him. He glanced up, confused as to what two adults would want from him, but they weren’t even looking at him. They were still talking to each other.

  


It hit him like a sack of bricks when he realized that he was probably looking at the original heroes named Castor and Pollux, the sons of Zeus. He immediately wanted to escape, feeling like he had a rock in his stomach. If he remembered right, Castor -- the original one -- had died, and Pollux Senior had made a deal with Zeus that would let him and his brother be together forever. They’d spend one day in the Underworld, and one day on Olympus. Castor’s brother would never have gotten that chance, Dionysus didn’t have the same powers that Zeus did. Those two didn’t have to spend very long apart, but it felt like forever since Castor had seen Pollux. At least Castor wouldn’t get kicked out of Elysium for feeling jealous.

  


It felt like an eternity and a half had gone by, and Castor had resorted to avoiding any and all people. Everyone else seemed to have someone to talk to, and the only one that Castor felt like he could talk to was still alive. It wasn’t Pollux’s fault, but Castor wasn’t going to stick around where people would watch him and maybe even pity him. He didn’t need that. He just needed his brother.

  


There was a short time when Castor heard rumors about souls escaping back up to the world of the living. He wouldn’t lie, he was tempted to do just that, but he didn’t. He’d probably get thrown into the Fields of Punishment if he did, and he was positive that Pollux wouldn’t go there. Then he’d  really never see him again. He had to be patient, it only felt like forever.

  


The rumors ended shortly after that, and eventually more people began coming into Elysium. Some people claimed to be Roman, and they were talking about a war with the Greeks. Some talked about a war with Giants. Just hearing that made him feel conflicted. On one hand, he didn’t want Pollux getting hurt, and on the other hand, he did want to see him. He had to be the worst brother on the planet for wanting his brother to die just because he missed him. Seriously, that had to be the most fucked up thing that anyone could possibly hope for, and here he was. Definitely the most disgusting brother ever.

  


He was sitting near the entrance of Elysium, which had become almost routine since he was hoping to find Pollux the second he got there if he was in fact going to die, when he heard another new arrival. There had been a pretty decent flood of people in a short time, so there was probably a battle of some kind going on. When he looked up, it felt like everything was going to be normal again really soon. Even though it had obviously been a decent amount of time since Castor had died, he could still recognize the newest resident in Elysium.

  


Castor took a running start towards him, shouting, “Pollux!”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I'm aware that Pollux didn't actually die during the battle against Gaea at Camp Half-Blood, but I just want Gemini children to be happy, okay?


End file.
